Page 49 of Heartless
Another medic gently pressed back on the governor’s shoulders. “Sir, I’m going to need you to hold still and remain calm—”
“I think he killed Josh!” Vance cried out in a panicked sob. “He stabbed General Bray and Reaper too, but—”
“Reaper?” I repeated, my own voice rising with panic. “My husband, Reaper?”
“Reaper shot him. I don’t know if he made it, I’m sorry. It all happened so fast—”
I pulled away, frantically looking around the room in search of my husband. Josh seemed to be in the worst shape, Dr. Brooks and another doctor were tending to him along with two of my medics.
“Finn!” I ran to my father-in-law’s gurney, making sure to stay behind the medics who worked quickly to slow his bleeding.
“Hey, sweetheart.” He smiled, despite looking pained and pale. “I meant to come visit you at work, but not like this.”
“What happened?”
“Eduardo,” he hissed, grinding his teeth. “Fuck, it’s my fault. I was too trusting—”
“You couldn’t have known,” I said. Now I knew where my husband’s tendency to shoulder all the blame came from.
“I’m alright, Mari,” Finn insisted. “I’ve had worse. Go find your man.”
“Okay,” I nodded, stepping away. “I’ll be back to check on you.” He was stable, his single stab wound was being tended to quickly and blood bags were being set up for his transfusion. That only left…
Reaper was lying on a gurney, his body still and pale as two medics hovered over him, bloodied and shirtless.
“Talk to me,” I snapped, shoving my way over to my husband’s side.
“He lost a lot of blood quickly. The weapon nicked the SMA and his lung—”
“Why aren’t his transfusion lines set up yet?”
“We’re finding out his blood ty—”
“He’s O-negative. Grab the blood and set up the drip now.”
The medics rushed to follow my instructions while I took over pressing down on his wound. They had already packed it to slow his bleeding, but he was covered in blood from the chest down. It was still wet on his hands and dripping onto the floor. Damage to his superior mesenteric artery explained the heavy blood loss. I’d have to assess the damage to his lung once the artery was treated. The blood around his mouth indicated he’d coughed some up.
“We’re getting you topped up on blood, love,” I whispered, hovering over him. “You better hang in there, or Hades is about to get an earful from me about bringing you back.”
My surroundings melted away as I got to work, checking for liquid in his lungs as his blood drip was set up. Once the coagulants did their job and we got his bleeding under control, I sutured his wound closed while keeping an eye on his vitals the whole time. They never dropped to dangerous levels, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to watch them like a hawk.
Dr. Brooks came up behind me at some point with a pat on my shoulder. It must have been hours later. The room had been cleaned up, patients were resting, and most of the medics had gone home.
“Take a rest, Mariposa,” the doctor told me kindly. “You led the new medics well through their first big ER rush.”
“I’ll stay, if that’s okay,” I told him. “This is my husband. And the general is my father-in-law.”
Dr. Brooks nodded in understanding. “Governor Vance is sending word to Josh and General Bray’s family. Is there anyone you’d like to notify?”
“Yes.” I smiled tiredly. “A few people.”
“Iknewthere was something fucking fishy about that kid.”
“Stop pacing like that.” I reached for Gunner’s hands from where I sat between Shadow and Jandro. “You’ll wear a hole in the floor.”
Reaper had woken up a few hours later, opting to share an overnight hospital room with his father. Several of us packed in, bringing extra chairs for everyone who rushed over when they received word.
And it pretty much waseveryone.
